No, You’re Not Our Prime Minister

Can a prime minister quit? The short answer is yes, but like most things, the idea of “quitting” is complicated. Oftentimes, prime ministers don’t necessarily want to quit, but rather their party pushes them to resign. After all, the prime minister of a country is there to lead and carry out the desires of their people, right?

For Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, it was the will of the people that led to his resignation. How did it all unfold? Serzh Sargsyan was Armenia’s president for ten years and then decided to choose his successor and take on the role of prime minister. Notice how we said he took on the role of prime minister? That’s because as president, he has the authority to pick the prime minister—and he picked himself! The parliament that was dominated by his party voted him in and that was that. Well, not so fast! People took to the streets and protested what they saw as former president Serzh Sargsyan’s attempt at holding onto power. After all, since the constitution was amended, the role of the prime minister now has more power. It took eleven days of protests before Serzh Sargsyan announced his resignation by simply saying, “I was wrong.”

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